Courage And The Entombment Of The Machine
by OrneryTexan
Summary: It will bleed, it will sleep and it will breath, again it must awaken and repair the damage program...after all, it kept them breathing.
1. Red Sores

_Phase I: The Bleeding, Part 1: Red Sores_

_It has become appallingly obvious that our __technology has exceeded our humanity. _  
_-Albert Einstein_

_Processing…processing, damage acquired…attempting reboot system…system launched._

It began a normal day, at least it would have, had not been for Eustace's constant complaining about "these dern sores" covering his arms and legs. It was just a little unusual because there was no evidence in what would cause such irritation on his skin; he bathed regularly (thank goodness) and had adequate oral hygiene, but the days went by and his sores grew more noticeably worse, then it was not before long that Muriel had an outbreak of her own.

Courage grew worried, he himself did not outbreak into sores, much to his relief, but knew that Eustace and Muriel did, with his worry overpowering him he rushed upstairs to the attic to get information from a somewhat helpful resource.

"What is it now, you twit?" Courage sighed as he was greeted the usual manner by his British speaking computer, wasting no time he typed the words "sores, body, overnight"

"Don't bother me; something very important is going to happen."

Courage was rather offended that his request was denied at such a rude fashion.

"Hey, Muriel and the farmer have these red things all over them, at least give me something to work with!"

But the computer once again scoffed at Courage.

"If the twits have red sores all over them it's because they've became part of the process."

"Huh…what are you talking about?"

"Stay up tonight…and you'll see…hehehe."

Courage, having given up, decided to stay up and just see what his computer was talking about, about 8:00 p.m. Muriel and Eustace fell asleep (they had trouble due to the sores) and Courage kept an eye open for any activity he was warned about.

Hours passed and his one open eye began swelling and growing a puffy light red from irritation, still he continued to find out what was causing the unwanted sores, and then suddenly he heard a noise coming from beneath the cracks in the wooden floor below.

Then in a snake coiling fashion, Courage beheld a single strand of red wire, as it danced right below Eustace and Muriel, it sprouted numerous thin copper wires from its opening and pierced their skin.

Courage's jaw froze in horror as the wire suddenly began to bleed and blood was extracted from the couple, then as silently as it came it left, leaving nothing more than a thin, dotted blood trail of its path.


	2. Understanding the Archetype

_Phase I: The Bleeding, Part 2: Understanding the Archetype_

_The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.  
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery_

_Processing …restoration at 13 percent._

Courage couldn't sleep for the rest of the night; he was too frightened by what he had seen last night and was even too terrified to find out what it was.

"Ohh Courage, these blisters are killing me." Muriel moaned as she tried to make breakfast despite the pain all over her body.

Eustace then barged through the kitchen door picking at the dark red crusty scabs on his arms.

"Stupid dog got us infected; from now on he stays outside."

Against Courage's will, he was tossed out the door and into the hard soil that was the front yard. Angry and irritated at his quick and unfair judgment, Courage dug up his ladder and climbed to the attic.

Opening the window he jumped into the chair of the computer and turned it on.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT LAST NIGHT!" he franticly typed in.

"Hehehe, you seem surprised. Let me fill you in, you twit."

"Thousands of years ago in 100 B.C the Mayans were above any civilization in the world, they prospered in art, technology, and astrology. It seems as if they were ahead of their time, but most people sought to create a device more efficient than their calendar, they fused their technology with their knowledge of mathematics and astrology, they created the most powerful device known to the world, and they dubbed it 'The Machine'.

Following the collapse of their civilization, the survivors and creators of the Machine went into hiding; constantly improving anyway they could on the machine, making it more powerful than anyone could imagine.

As technology grew and the decades passed, the descendents of the creators worked to improve it, they gave it a soul, a mind…a heart, it was able to understand, comprehend, judge, reason and feel.

It held secrets no one was to know, it had knowledge only people dreamed about, it contained a force rivaled by nature, but because of fear of outsiders they shut down the system, but to restart the machine it takes life from the planet and it's inhabitants, it has three phases, and each one takes away something precious."


End file.
